About Our Store

Beginning in 1920, the Ebels family has been operating their store in beautiful downtown Falmouth, Michigan. Chris Ebels originally started the business delivering foods and other essentials door to door in a horse drawn wagon. Since the original store, there have been 5 major renovations to make room for more retail space and to start new business ventures.

A Proud Tradition

Successive generations have operated Ebels General Store for 5 generations. Chris Ebels began the endeavor in 1920. He started by delivering goods with a horse drawn cart around the Falmouth area. In 1927 Chris moved his store building to the store’s current location with a full basement under the main floor. Chris added groceries to the hardware and implement lines during the depression. After Chris died, his son John took over the store and joined the Spartan Food Company in 1939. John’s son Harold worked for his father for many years, and in 1960 he purchased a half interest in the store. Harold became complete owner in 1965. In the fall of 1971, Harold completed an addition of the store that doubled its size. Harold also did another addition in 1978 that doubled the size of the store once again.

In the early 1980’s several national retailers moved into the area, and with them came more competition at the grocery retail level for local stores. This led Mark & Dawn to begin to diversify their services. They started to offer butchering and meat processing services. This led to processing deer and making smoked meats for customers. Mark’s smoked meats became well known around the area, and eventually demand for them led Mark & Dawn to start Little Town Jerky in 1994.

Mark & Dawn also started a catering business in the late 1980’s to further diversify their business. Many busy years of catering led to the official formation of Dawn Fresh Catering, Inc. in 2001, and the construction of a new kitchen that was completed in 2003.

In 2002, Mark’s processing had grown to the point where it needed a major expansion to maintain operations. A new butchering facility was constructed and completed in 2004. The new facility is approved and inspected daily by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Ebels General Store also is well known for their retail meat selection. The Ebels family strives to offer great quality meats at very competitive prices. On a busy Saturday there are often 10-15 people at the service meat counter to purchase their meats. Ebels Meat Department works to provide excellent customer service – be it slicing a slab of bacon from sister company Little Town Jerky, or cutting a whole New York strip loin. Besides a great meat department, the store also offers a full line of groceries, produce, frozen foods, and dairy; provided by Nash Finch Company since 2012. Nash Finch, a grocery supplier since 1904, provides Ebels with the quality private label, Our Family Brand.

Ebels also has a specialty clothing and gift department offering Men's, Women's, and Children's clothing including outerwear and boots. Customers can look forward to shopping brands like Woolrich, Carhartt, Keren Hart, Stormy Kromer and Bogs footwear, to name a few.

Today, Mark & Dawn enjoy working alongside three of their children and their spouses. Mark and Dawn would like to thank the great team of associates they have been blessed with in all areas of the businesses. Many have been with the company for multiple years and through all the transitions along the way.

The Ebels family would like to thank all of their loyal customers. The Ebels Companies are dedicated to serving our Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost. We are dedicated to providing quality, value and consistency in the foods we make, products we sell and services we provide. We look forward to serving you in the future.